She stopped to eat and then headed to the library. No one was there. That was strange. With the catastrophe just around the corner, she had thought at least someone would be there. Others had said they were being assigned extra duties, but the meeting had been a couple of days ago. Was it still the case?
It occurred to her that if she were the enemy, knowing that some fought against them, she too would keep the Infirium busy lest they interfere right as all plans came to fruition. She sighed. They had been out-classed the entire time. How were they going to survive?
But that was the wrong attitude. They would be victorious. Somehow.
Kate waited around for an hour more to see if anyone would show up. No one did. Disappointed, she headed back to her barracks. The day of the new moon was the day after next. She would try to talk with some of the others in the morning, before she went out to take another shift at the gate.
It wasn’t late as she headed back to her bunk, but the streets were mostly empty of people. It was like that sometimes. She hadn’t figured out a pattern to it, though there probably was one. It was fine. She didn’t really feel like seeing people at the moment anyway.
As she came around the corner of a supply building, motion from several places around her made her instincts sound an internal alarm. In a blink, she had her shield in her left hand and her sword in her right.
She swept the shield outward and was rewarded with the clang of a sword being deflected. A similar, but higher pitched, sound accompanied the vibration going through her sword from parrying another strike.
Kate spun to gain some space, thinking how bold the enemy had gotten to attack her in the middle of the city. Like her, they probably figured time was so short, it was time to go all out in their attack.
She chided herself for thinking about it while she was being attacked. She thrust the thoughts from her head and focused on staying alive.
Though the light was dim, cast by a few pole lanterns within the area, it was sufficient for Kate to see the five men attacking her. Only five. How did they expect to overwhelm her with so few when she defeated nearly twice that many in the last ambush?
Just as the thought went through her mind, pain blossomed in her shoulder, as if someone had touched her with a red-hot bar of iron. The peculiar way it tugged as it tore her skin reminded her of something else she had felt.
It was the sensation of a claw ripping through her flesh.
She slashed at the direction from which the claw came, but her blade hit nothing. She saw nothing as well, other than the five men who were suspiciously standing back as to let someone—or something—else attack her.
She closed her eyes briefly to focus and then snapped them open. The sensation of movement to her left triggered her reflexes to swing her shield to cover that side. The screech of something rebounding off of, and scratching into, her shield broke the sound of labored breathing and shuffling feet.
It was true. There was at least one invisible demon with the men. One would be enough to—
A tiny scrabbling sound came from her right. She slashed in that direction and was pleased to feel the blade tug at something as it passed. When she glanced down at her sword, it was smeared with green blood.
There were two invisible demons in the mix. At least two.
She couldn’t hope to defeat two or more demons she couldn’t see, in addition to the men. She had to take another option.
Kate lunged at one of the attackers who was standing too close, then turned the movement into a spin, throwing out her shield and sword to keep all the attackers at bay. Then she lowered her head and sprinted for the next major intersection of streets.
The men were surprised by the move. She hoped the demons were, too. She could almost feel their fetid breath on her neck as she ran for her life toward light and other people. At the very least, it would provide distractions for her attackers to contend with.
She broke into the better-lit intersection at a full sprint. She stopped quickly, and her boots slid on the cobbles. Before she was even at a full stop, she turned to face her pursuing attackers.
They were nowhere to be seen.
She kept her sword and shield up as she scanned the street. There were about a dozen people gawking at her, expressions ranging from curiosity to fear to disbelief. She remained at guard, ignoring the people and trying to get her breathing under control, for several minutes.
No attack came, and the men who had attacked her did not appear. It seemed that the enemy wasn’t ready for a crowd of people to know there were invisible demons in the fortress. Not yet.
She slid her sword into her scabbard but kept the shield on her arm. Her left shoulder still ached and dripped blood, a few drops at a time, onto the street from the wound, but she would take care of that once she knew she was safe from attack.
Kate was almost to her barracks when a thought occurred to her. What if she was not the only one who was attacked?
Cursing, she bound her shoulder with the rag she carried in her belt pouch to wipe off her blade and started running. If the Infirium were being attacked, she had to help.
She could only hope that there weren’t enough of the demon assassins to attack everyone. If the entire Infirium was being attacked, most would have to be assaulted by men. All of the Black could take care of themselves faced with only human enemies. But two of the Infirium were not of the Black, and only one of those two was still in Gateskeep.
Thinking of the consequences of her being late, Kate pushed herself harder. She took the most direct route to where she was going, not paying any attention to the people she passed as she ran. Looks of confusion and comments she didn’t care to listen to followed her.
She racked her mind, thinking through the pattern Wilfred had told her about. He was systematically covering his area of Gateskeep with peeps, and he had told her where he was at just a few days past. She calculated how much area he could reasonably cover in a night, accounting for doing so carefully so as to avoid detection. She adjusted her path slightly when she deduced where he would most likely be.
If he was out scanning areas. He was just as likely in his bunk. Would the assassins attack him there?
She arrived at the area where she thought he might have been, but saw only two Reds chatting as they made their way to wherever they were going.
Some type of animal reared up within her, threatening to rip her heart to shreds. She vaguely recognized it as panic. Where was Wilfred?
Kate slowed her running to a jog and reoriented herself. Right, he was working from north to south within the area she now moved: near the barracks on the northwestern part of the city. Moving quickly but as quietly as she could, she continued looking for her friend.
A shadow ahead and to her right moved and Kate tensed. Was it her attackers, finally caught up to her?
A slight cough from the darkness to her left made her scan the shadows there. Something else was there, something not as tall as her, something that reflected a distant lamp’s light.
She moved closer, and within a few steps, the shape resolved itself into the young man she knew, wrapped in his blue robes and hurriedly pulling something off his face.
“Wilfred,” she said in relief.
“Kate?” He peered at her as if he couldn’t see her. Of course, his night vision wasn’t as keen as hers.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Thank the Creator. You scared me to death. I thought someone had seen me using the glasses.”
“There is more to be scared of than—”
That was when the attackers took their opportunity.
Kate’s sword was out in a flash, batting away another blade that swung toward Wilfred. The clang and sparks resulting from the collision made Wilfred jump and yelp.
“Stay near that wall,” she commanded him, and to his credit, he stepped back until he was against it. “Try not to die.”
She saw him nod before she got caught up in the fight.
Covering herself
and Wilfred with her shield, she scanned the shadows around her. Four shapes shifted in the shadows. Their movements were tentative, hesitant. They had obviously only expected one unarmed Blue and now they were faced with someone with teeth…and a shield. They looked at each other, and one of them glanced back toward where they had come from.
Oh, no. They will not be escaping to regroup and try again later, Kate thought. It ends here.
None of the four made an advance, so Kate took the initiative. She lunged at one, knowing it would draw the others into action. As she expected, the one she targeted back-stepped to maintain his distance from her. Also as she expected, the others rushed in, two of them attacking her and one going for Wilfred.
Predictably, the two targeting her slashed from opposite sides of her while the one attacking Wilfred struck downward toward the Blue’s head. She threw her shield up, meeting the downward sword at the beginning of its arc, and deflected it so strongly that the attacker stumbled.
The motion with her shield threw her body forward, and she knelt as she slid under the two blades aimed at her head. The men cursed as they tried to avoid cutting each other with their swings. One of the men’s curses turned to a grunt as Kate thrust her sword into his gut.
Rising to her feet, she swung her shield around to catch the sword of the man she had first lunged at. He had moved in and was attacking Wilfred, trying to complete his mission. Kate rotated her body and slammed her sword into another being thrust at her, her sword point down as it swung in an arc. She circled the sword around, converting the movement into a backhanded slash that nearly took the attacker’s arm off at the elbow. His sword fell from his grip and bounced once on the stone with a clang.
The two remaining assailants charged in, ignoring Wilfred in favor of attacking his protector. She spun, catching first one, then another sword on her shield, gauging them and their abilities. After a few more deflected blades, she knew what she needed to know.
One of the men came in with a downward diagonal strike to Kate’s head while the other lunged in with a straight thrust. Kate didn’t bother with the thrust, simply stepping to the side while parrying the other man’s strike with her sword. When the lunging attacker predictably turned his thrust into an upward slash, Kate met the arm holding the sword with the sharp edge of her shield, slicing deep into his forearm.
She spun, slashing at one man’s thigh and cutting a shallow line in his leg. Continuing her motion, she swept her sword up to strike the other man’s blade so powerfully it left his weakened grip. She reversed her spin, cut into his neck with her sword, and then knocked him away with her shield.
Finally, following through with her spin, she slashed at the last remaining attacker, who managed to get his blade up to block in time. The vibrations from the clash reverberated through Kate’s sword, but she held it tight. It had done its work in moving her opponent’s sword out of the way. She finished off with a diagonal slash with her shield that cut through the man’s face and deeply into his neck.
He looked at her, shock on his face, as the blood splashed from his ruined neck. Then he slumped and fell over to his side.
Kate turned, scanned the area for any other people, hostile or not, and then finally gave her attention to Wilfred.
Kate’s friend was crouched against the wall she had told him to stay by.
“Wilfred,” she said softly.
He looked up to her, eyes wide. He swung his head back and forth, eyes darting, looking for more threats.
“They’re gone. It’s safe now. Come on. Stand up.”
He did as she asked, eyes still searching for more danger. They narrowed and then widened again as he turned and vomited, violent retching that shook his whole body.
Kate stood and waited for him to finish. Wilfred was no stranger to death and blood, but this was probably the first time death had come for him specifically. She let him finish.
After Wilfred stopped shaking and convulsing, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stepped over to where Kate stood guard.
“Feel better?” she asked.
“A little, but not much. They…they were here to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kate sighed and finally slid her sword into its scabbard on her back, after cleaning it on the closest corpse’s clothing. “My guess is that they attacked all of the Infirium they know about tonight. They tried to get me earlier.”
“They’re attacking everyone, but you came to save me?”
“Of course. The others have a much better chance of surviving. You and Molara are the only ones who aren’t Black.”
“Oh,” he said. “I guess that makes sense. Thank you. You saved my life.”
She smiled at him, though it was a sad smile. “You’re my friend, Wilfred. That’s what friends do.”
“What happens when they try again? What if you’re not around?”
“That can’t happen. Come on, I’m taking you to the library. You’ll stay there until the battle, or until the danger has passed.”
“But…but…I can’t just go and hide out there. There’s work to be done, and I’m on duty tomorrow, and I’ll get in trouble.”
She leveled a stern look at him. “Wilfred! They just tried to kill you. They will do so again. You need to hide. Is trying to avoid getting in trouble for not showing up for your shift worth dying for?”
He looked at his feet sheepishly. “No.”
“Then come on. You’re right, there is work to do. There may barely be more than a day until the final battle. We need to prepare. We also need someone to be there to get information from the others. Not everyone will have survived the attacks. I don’t know if everyone was attacked tonight, but even so, we’ll need someone to compile casualty reports and to be a conduit for communication.”
Kate led Wilfred to the library, trying to use the busier streets. She wasn’t sure if groups of the assassins were prowling the city in case they chanced upon one of the Infirium, but she guessed that the killers specifically targeted people. Still, she kept her shield on her arm, and her fingers twitched to wrap around her sword hilt at the slightest provocation.
Once in the secret section of the library, Kate brought out a bucket of water from Molara’s kitchen so Wilfred could wash.
“I’ll bring you some food a little later,” she said. “You’ll have to get by on the cheese and rolls I found in the kitchen. You can go out—in the daylight—to use the latrine, but otherwise I suggest you stay in here. You probably won’t be attacked on the streets during the day, but someone may see you.”
Wilfred hung his head and sighed. “Okay.”
“It won’t be long. Please record whatever information you get from any of the Infirium who visit. Ask them to find out about the others. We need to get a count of how many were attacked and if there are any dead.”
“I will.”
“I’ll come back when I can. For now, I need to make sure I’m seen where I’m supposed to be.”
“Thank you, Kate,” he said. “You know, for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome. Do me a favor and do what I say so you can keep it.”
He gave her a hesitant, forced smile.
She left, glad that at least Wilfred would be safe. But what of the others? Were they attacked by the invisible assassins, too? Did they all make it out alive? Even more importantly, what were they going to do about the coming battle? Kate wearily made her way back to her barracks, wondering what new danger she would be facing the next day.
31
Kate stopped at the privy to wash some of the blood from her clothes and to clean her shoulder wound from earlier that night. It stung and her movements tugged at the gash, but it wasn’t deep and seemed like it would heal quickly. It wasn’t painful enough to affect her movement, though she would most likely reopen the cut each time she had to swing her shield. That was the least of her worries.
She mended the leather strap the demon’s claw had cut through
to get at her flesh also. It wasn’t a permanent repair, but it would keep her armor functional. The few rings in her mail that had been broken would have to wait until she could get an armorer to repair it.
By the time she made it back to her room, the other three women were asleep. She stood in the darkness, listening to their breathing, wondering if they were feigning sleep, but it didn’t sound like it. She didn’t like them—at least, she didn’t like Dark and Light—but she also didn’t think they were the enemy.
She would have to literally stake her life on that belief.
Kate stripped in the dark, placed her dagger under her pillow and her sword within easy reach of her bed, and went to sleep.
When she woke—long before the others, as normal—she dressed quickly and bundled her clothes from the night before so she could take them to the laundry. The cleaners were used to handling clothing with blood on it, so hers wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
She was hungrier than normal, perhaps due to all the running she did the night before. She went to the mess hall and ate two full servings of the unidentifiable mush of the day along with a whole loaf of bread and an entire pitcher of water. She took some of the more portable food, cheese, bread, and some salted meat that was primarily used for travel rations, so Wilfred could have breakfast. It wasn’t hot food, but he’d have to make do.
Kate came through the door to the secret section of the library to find Wilfred and Peiros sitting at one of the tables.
“Good morning,” she said. “I brought you some breakfast, Wilfred, such as it is. Have you eaten, Peiros? There should be enough for both of you.”
“I have eaten, Kate,” the Salornumese said. “Thank you, and good morning. Wilfred was just telling me of his adventure last night.”
“Ah, yes. Were you attacked, too?”
“I was not. I had the night shift at the gate last night. I finished a few hours ago, ate breakfast, and came here to check in before heading to my bunk to sleep.”
Order of the Fire Box Set Page 67